The Gipper's Guide to America

[The Gipper]

OK,  this will be a bit of a doozy.   I just returned from New Mexico  where I visited   9 new  National Park Units that I had not been to before, plus one that I had.  Here you go with some brief descriptions.  

Salina Pueblo Missions National Monument  Located a bit south and west of Albequerque.  It actually has 3 units, 2 of which I visited.   These are the location of  preserved ruins that combined an ancient Native American Pueblo location  (note: Pueblo means essentially a NA town/village/city)  with that of a Spanish mission built later located on the edge of the pueblo. The Pueblos could be 1000 or more years old, and the Missions built in the  late 1500s/1600s.

Petroglyph  National Monument.  Located on the western edge of the Albequerque metropolis,  this unit  preserves the location of ancient Native American  "Art work"  that has been created in the volcanic rock of that area. We chose an area where we had to walk 1.1 mile in and 1.1 mile back to where we could see the best Petroglyphs (seemed like  5 miles). 

Valles Caldera  National Preserve.    Located west of Santa Fe this preserve is the remnants of vast  extinct volcanic Caldera. A large part of the sunken caldera is a huge Vega (meadow)  of grasses.  

El Malpais National Monument.  Located in western New Mexico.  El Malpais translates to "The Badlands or Bad Place".  It preserves natural features, primarily a huge lava flow covering hundreds of square mile.  Also there are arches, and caves and lava tubes.

El Morro National Monument.   Located in western New Mexico near to Gallup.  El Morro tranlates to The Bluff. It preserves a location  at the base of a huge bluff that served as a respite for  ancient and not so ancient travelers from  the Pueblans to the Spanish explorers to American Pioneers.  There was a natural, clean water pool at the base of the bluff of which the water supply was constant (did not dry up nor go brackish).  The location was an "Oasis" of sorts,  and all along the base of the bluff all these people decided to start scribing their names and other information on the rock so there is a huge area called "Inscription Rock"  that preserves a lot of this writing dating way way back.

Chaco Culture National Historic Park.   This park, located in west central New Mex.  is a vast complex of  Pueblan ruins  where in ancient times  thousands of people lived.  There are at least   10 different "communities"  located in Chaco Canyon in various states of preservation.  It is believed that this complex would have been the largest city in this nation  in its day. It appeared to be the center of Pueblan culture.

Aztec Ruins National Monument.   This site also preserves a Pueblan community, much smaller than Chaco.   Here they have a reconstructed  Kiva.   A kiva is a round building that was likely the center of Pueblan social, cultural, and spiritual life. 

Fort Union  National Monument.   Let the website describe it:  Exposed to the wind, within a sweeping valley of short grass prairie, amid the swales of the Santa Fe Trail, lie the territorial-style adobe remnants of the largest 19th century military fort in the region. For forty years, 1851-1891, Fort Union functioned as an agent of political and cultural change, whether desired or not, in New Mexico and throughout the Southwest.

Pecos  National Historic Park.   Located just a few mile east of  Santa Fe, Pecos, like the Salinas sites, preserves  an ancient Pueblo along with an adjacent  Spanish mission. In addition, in another section thereof, it also  preserves the site of the battle of Glorietta Pass. This battle was the westernmost battle fought in the Civil War. The Confederacy wanted to try to take over and control the southwest, including California and Colorado for their gold and other resources and to attempt to enforce slavery in those state, but their attempts were thwarted by a Union victory by troops out of Fort Union. The Confederacy never successfully made it past Texas.

Also  had stops at the following other NP units:

Santa Fe National Historic Trail

Old Spanish National Historic Trail

El Camino Real de Tierra Adento  National Historic Trail

Capulin Vocano  National Monument,  which I had been to before.

While I get different numbers depending on how I count,  there are only   39 of the  423 total NP  units that I have not visited,  which would make it   384 of the 423 that I have been to.  There are only  19 in the "lower 48"  that I have not been to. 

 

[The Gipper]

Notes on my National Park thing:

Of the  19 I have yet to do in the lower 48,    5 are in Washington State.  1 in Wash. DC ,  4 in Calif.  1 in Oregon, 1 in Idaho, 2 in N. Dakota,  1 in S. Dakota,  1 in Nebraska,  1 in Illinois,  2 in Mississippi.  Plan is to hit Nebraska one in May,  Illinois in July,  and maybe 2 of the Calif. ones in August,  and the 2 in Miss. next April. 

Of the Non-continental ones:   13 are in Alaska,  1 in Hawaii,  1 in Samoa, 1 in Guam, 1 in Puerto Rico, and 3 on St. Croix

[TexasAg1969]

2 hours ago, The Gipper said:

Notes on my National Park thing:

Of the  19 I have yet to do in the lower 48,    5 are in Washington State.  1 in Wash. DC ,  4 in Calif.  1 in Oregon, 1 in Idaho, 2 in N. Dakota,  1 in S. Dakota,  1 in Nebraska,  1 in Illinois,  2 in Mississippi.  Plan is to hit Nebraska one in May,  Illinois in July,  and maybe 2 of the Calif. ones in August,  and the 2 in Miss. next April. 

Of the Non-continental ones:   13 are in Alaska,  1 in Hawaii,  1 in Samoa, 1 in Guam, 1 in Puerto Rico, and 3 on St. Croix

Been to El Morro on the way to the Malpais and back from Zuni where my son was a teacher/coach for two years. Loved those spring waters of El Morro. My son gave me a Zuni ring which I wear and I had a Zuni woman make me a unique ring of pure silver with a design that included the Zuni river flowing through the Lava walls above the main part of Zuni and their sacred flat top mountain in the background with a real 2008 Buffalo 1/10 oz. gold coin in the middle. I furnished the coin and the design I had in mind and she did all the work since she was famous there for her intricate stone work in silver rings. I've gotten dozens of comments on it over the years when I wear it.

[The Gipper]

I  recently completed a trek out to Nebraska, part of South Dakota and Kansas and beyond.   I visited  2 new National Park Units I had not been to before:

Niobrara National Scenic River.   This park extends east for 75 miles out of Valentine Nebraska. It is as advertised,  a scenic waterway.  I did not go the entire way,  just made a few selective stops, including a portion of the river that runs through the Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge, and the portion that runs through Smith Falls State Park.  (Smith Falls being a very fabulous waterfall the way it tumbles).  The best way to probably experience this park would be to do a float trip:  tube/canoe/kayak/raft.  We did not do that, being early May none of the  outfitters were running yet. This river, at least in May was very fast moving...you really would not even have to paddle to move swiftly downriver.

Minuteman Missile National Historic site.   This park  is in South Dakota, and has a few sites along I-90  between the entrance to the Badlands and Wall SD. And the concept of it may be the scariest of all National Park Units.  What you see is a silo in which sits a deactivated thermonuclear Intercontinental Ballistic Missile.  Oish!!  At the one site we visited you can look down into the silo from above and see the missile sitting there.  There was another spot we could not make it to that gave tours of the missile facility. We could not do that because the tours were sold out, but the other place had a nice audio tour you could access with your cell phone. 

Other NP Units that I revisited on this trip going and coming included:

Herbert Hoover National Historic Site, West Branch Iowa

Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Agate Fossil Beds National Monument,   Harrison Nebraska

Lincoln Home National Historic Site.   Springfield, Illinois

My personal count is I have  now vistited  386 of the 423 NP Units. 

Next up:  Pullman National Historic Site in Chicago.

 

[The Gipper]

Smith Falls  in  Nebraska:

[The Gipper]

Here I am,  looking the Apocalypse squarely in the face.

This is in fact a  Thermonuclear Intercontinental Ballistic Missile.  Deactivated fortunately. 

[The Gipper]

This is not me,  but many people said that my Dad bore a strong resemblence to Slim Pickens,  and that I resemble my Dad.....so, I guess there could be worse ways to go out: